"The report really paints a damning picture of the Trump presidency. It shows a president who was consumed by the Mueller investigation. Someone who tried to get his top advisers to lie or obfuscate on his behalf and who really was trying to interfere with the Mueller investigation and actually only was blocked by his own - by his own team who either refused to carry out some of his orders or simply just let them fall by the wayside."

"Ultimately Mueller did not find that, did not decide to go forward with criminal charges against Trump or some of the other figures that were around him at the early stages of his administration or during the campaign. But really when you, when you put that aside there is a lot in here that really paints a troubling picture of this administration and it turns this into a political question now. That's for Democrats. Democrats have to decide if they want to continue to pursue these investigations, if they want to move forward with impeachment. There are really mixed feelings in the Democratic caucus about that but we now shift from a criminal question to a political question."

"Certainly the full report the unredacted report will provide us with, with some level of additional information. There are, there are pieces of this report where you can figure out what's probably behind the redactions but then there are some where we really don't know and Democrats and the public have probably or you know feel like they have a right to know what is behind those redactions."

"One of the reasons you're seeing the oversight committees move forward with trying to pursue the full report is they just want to keep the investigations going. It is very unlikely that we will learn something in the unredacted report that will fundamentally change either public opinion or understanding about what happened here. But these committees feel like it is their responsibility. They are the legislative branch. They are a check on the executive branch. They feel like it's their responsibility to push forward, take the next step, get the unredacted report. "

"There are definitely some loud voices in the Democratic caucus that want to move forward on impeachment but we've heard for from the start from Democratic leaders people like Nancy Pelosi that she sees a pretty high bar for, for impeachment hearings. She has said repeatedly that she feels like in order to move forward on impeachment, you have to not only have really solid evidence of an impeachable offense but you also have to be able to bring not just Democrats but also Republicans on board."

DONALD TRUMP VIA TWITTER @REALDONALDTRUMP - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Internet - 19 April 2019

++NOTE GRAPHIC LANGUAGE++

12. @realDonaldTrump Twitter page

13. Donald Trump tweet of a "Game of Thrones" type still image (English) "NO COLLUSION. NO OBSTRUCTION. FOR THE HATERS AND THE RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS -- GAME OVER"

14. Donald Trump tweet (English) "...agreed to testify, it was not necessary for me to respond to statements made in the "Report" about me, some of which are total bullshit & only given to make the other person look good (or me to look bad). This was an Illegally Started Hoax that never should have happened, a...

15. Donald Trump tweet (English) "Statements are made about me by certain people in the Crazy Mueller Report, in itself written by 18 Angry Democrat Trump Haters, which are fabricated & totally untrue. Watch out for people that take so-called "notes," when the notes never existed until needed. Because I never...."

"The president goes back and forth on this Mueller Report. On the one hand, he wants to argue that the main takeaway was hey I did nothing wrong there was no no collusion, no criminal obstruction. On the other hand, he's keenly aware that the report does paint this really damning picture of his presidency. And so he wants to with all those details out there now he wants to really undermine them. He wants to point fingers at Mueller's team and say they don't have enough credibility to make judgments on me. And then also he wants to cast doubt on the many Trump advisers who talked to Bob Mueller and provided pretty stunning details. He believes based on his track record over the past two years that he, he can undermine the credibility of that report, certainly for his base and perhaps for, for other Americans as well."

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Washington - 18 April 2019

17. STILL IMAGE - Pages from Mueller's redacted report

18. President Trump and Melania depart White House

Storyline

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Friday for special counsel's Robert Mueller's report as Congress escalates its investigation of President Donald Trump.

"It now falls to Congress to determine the full scope of that alleged misconduct and to decide what steps we must take going forward," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. He expects the Justice Department to comply by May 1.

While Mueller declined to prosecute Trump on obstruction of justice, he did not exonerate the president, all but leaving the question to Congress.

Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief Julia Pace says "Certainly the full report -- the unredacted report will provide us with -- with some level of additional information...there are pieces of this report where you can figure out what's probably behind the redactions but then there are some where we really don't know and Democrats and the public have probably or you know feel like they have a right to know what is behind those redactions."

The risks for both parties are clear if they duck the responsibility or prolong an inquiry that, rather than coming to a close, may be just beginning.

"My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice," Nadler said in a statement.

The materials are due the day Barr is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee and one day before Barr is set to appear before Nadler's committee.

Nadler also has summoned Mueller to testify.

Republicans are eager to move beyond what Trump calls the "witch hunt" that has overshadowed the party and the presidency.

While Democrats say Mueller's findings are far more serious than initially indicated in Barr's four-page summary last month, they've been hesitant to pursue the ultimate step, impeachment proceedings, despite pressure from the left flank of the party to begin efforts to try to remove the president from office.

Pace says "Democrats have to decide if they want to continue to pursue these investigations -- if they want to move forward with impeachment. There are really mixed feelings in the Democratic caucus about that but we now shift from a criminal question to a political question."

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